Share your catch
US

Pamlico Sound Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The big sound behind the Outer Banks, where adult red drum gather in summer to spawn and North Carolina holds harvest to one fish between 18 and 27 inches.

2/5
Slow. The wind owns today.26 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.
Next tide
High 5:55 PM
Air / High
63 / 65 F
Wind
N 15 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8651370, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. The wind owns today.26 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Pamlico Sound lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 15 mph, steady pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 65. Tides: high 5:40 AM and 5:55 PM, low 11:51 AM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:38 AM-11:38 AM and 10:06 PM-12:06 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutExcellent

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Tomorrow: Similar at 65 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

North Carolina requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $32.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a North Carolina licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with NCWRC before you keep anything. The season dates for North Carolina, read off the agency, are on the North Carolina seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8651370 (Duck (outer coast)). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
HIGH5:40 AM3.8 ft
LOW11:51 AM0.7 ft
HIGH5:55 PM3.6 ft
Sat
LOW12:01 AM0.4 ft
HIGH6:24 AM4.1 ft
LOW12:43 PM0.4 ft
HIGH6:41 PM3.6 ft

Avon tide chart: the week and the month β†’

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp63 F
High / Low65 / 55 F
WindN 15-17 mph
Pressure1022.3 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset07:16 / 18:18
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Pamlico Sound this week

The best day on Pamlico Sound this week looks like Wednesday Oct 28, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Wednesday, Oct 28 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

26 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Solunar majors
9:38 AM-11:38 AM and 10:06 PM-12:06 AM
Minor period
3:59 AM-4:59 AM
Sun
07:16 to 18:18
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 26 mph
Rain chance
4%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Pamlico Sound: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

When to come: the Pamlico Sound calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
Striped bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~78 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Pamlico Sound today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 17 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 65 F, wind to 22 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 25 mph gusts make boat control the real battle. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 68 F, wind to 25 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

North Carolina requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License. Red drum: one a day, 18 to 27 inches total length (NCDMF, effective September 2, 2026). Gear rules apply to the summer adult red drum fishery in Pamlico Sound: see the current NCDMF proclamations for red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder and striped bass.

Access

Kelly N. Davis Boating Access Area at Swan Quarter, 278 Oyster Creek Road (NC Wildlife Resources Commission), plus other state boating access areas in Hyde County.

About this water

The sound behind North Carolina's Outer Banks, in Hyde, Dare and Carteret counties among others; the tide station on this page (NOAA 8651370, Duck) is on the ocean side.

Fishing Pamlico Sound: the full guide

Adult red drum

North Carolina's Division of Marine Fisheries says large red drum, up to 90 pounds, are commonly found in Pamlico Sound in summer, and that spawning takes place in the fall around coastal inlets and in the sound. Red drum mature at about age 4 and around 32 inches, then leave the estuaries to join the adult stock in the ocean. Amendment 1 to the state's Red Drum Fishery Management Plan required circle hooks with fixed weights and short leaders in the summer adult red drum fishery in Pamlico Sound.

Young drum and the survey

Juvenile red drum use shallow estuarine habitats in the sounds and rivers for their first few years (NCDMF). The Division has run a fishery-independent gill-net survey in Pamlico Sound since 2001; its 2023 red drum index was 2.33 fish per set, above 2022 but below the series average.

Size and bag limits

NCDMF's recreational size and bag table, effective September 2, 2026, allows one red drum a day between 18 and 27 inches total length. Southern flounder had a short fall season in 2026 and striped bass harvest in the Albemarle Sound area was closed, so check the current proclamations for other species.

Launching from the mainland

The Wildlife Resources Commission's Kelly N. Davis Boating Access Area at Swan Quarter, 278 Oyster Creek Road, opened in 2007 and gives access to Pamlico Sound. The Commission calls it the most used of its six state-managed boating access areas in Hyde County, with 47 parking spaces, 38 of them for vehicles with trailers.

Common questions

When are the big red drum in the sound?

NCDMF says large adults are common in Pamlico Sound in summer and spawn there and around the inlets in the fall.

What is the red drum limit?

One fish a day between 18 and 27 inches total length (NCDMF, effective September 2, 2026).

Where can I launch on the mainland side?

The Kelly N. Davis Boating Access Area at Swan Quarter, the busiest state-managed ramp in Hyde County.

Is fishing good at Pamlico Sound right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. The wind owns today. 26 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Nearby waters

Cape Hatteras17 miOuter Banks37 miMorehead City63 miNeuse River95 miTar River99 miVirginia Beach103 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8651370 β€” Duck (outer coast)
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 11 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 35.3500, -75.9000 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.